Kamala Harris, Olympics give U.S. a needed doomscrolling break

Vice President Kamala Harris gestures during a campaign rally.

By Mary McNamaraCulture Columnist and Critic

Aug. 13, 2024 8:40 AM PT

Happiness, “Peanuts” creator Charles M. Schulz famously wrote, is a warm puppy. Quaint advice but also true — our family recently celebrated the dog days of summer by adopting Harley, who, according to his paperwork, is a golden retriever-spaniel mix. We’ll see. He’s cedar brown, with a black, narrow snout and ears that appear designed to achieve liftoff.

He is currently gamboling around my feet while our older dog, Koda, looks on with a combination of suspicion and hope, like he can’t quite believe what he’s seeing.

I know just how he feels. Between the new and unapologetically exuberant Democratic presidential ticket and the glorious Paris Olympics, the dog days of summer have shed their reputation for bittersweet lethargy and become the Season of the Vibe Shift, as antic as a rescue pup.

Much has been made about the new tone in the race for the White House since President Biden stepped out and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris. Leaning into the large, enthusiastic crowds she and her vice presidential pick, Tim Walz, have drawn in the last week, Harris has embraced the long-shelved politics of hope and joy.

A stark contrast to their opponents, former President Trump and Ohio Sen. JD Vance, whose playbook continues to rely heavily on grievance, the patriarchal Project 2025 and a dystopian view of modern America.

Harris quickly countered Trump’s “Make America Great Again” with “We’re Not Going Back,” an effective slogan for those who believe Trump’s version of “great again” means a return to a time when many people’s rights were restricted.

But it wasn’t until Harris and Walz shut down their supporters’ attempts to chant “Lock him up” at several rallies that I believed something significant had changed. When they say, “We’re not going back,” they actually mean it. As tempting as it must have been to flip the chant Trump used against Hillary Clinton in 2016, especially given that Trump is an actual convicted felon, Harris has made it clear that she wants no echoes of the MAGA past — or present — in her campaign. “Leave that to the courts,” she has said each time the chant has erupted.

This does not mean the Democrats are above attacking Trump, or even meeting him on his own ground, although Walz’s use of “weird” does not have the same icky and Gollum-like connotations of Trump’s preferred “nasty.” But those attacks are more focused on calling out the obvious — questioning Trump’s coherence and listing the lies he told in a recent news conference; reminding voters that Trump pressured his supporters in the Senate to kill the recent border bill — and less on predicting the apocalypse.

In her biggest change from Biden’s campaign, Harris is framing Trump simply as a very flawed candidate rather than a malignant force with the power to overthrow democracy as we know it.

Harris and Walz very clearly believe that democracy can and will withstand all the “They’re cheating!” rhetoric that Trump continues to bellow, along with legitimately unhinged accusations that the crowds at Harris/Walz rallies are artificial intelligence creations. This is a welcome change from the early summer reports that ranking Democrats were becoming resigned to a Trump victory.

Trump supporters claim that Harris’ rise in polls reflects nothing but a honeymoon period. But anyone who thinks a honeymoon is inevitably followed by a free fall of excited commitment must have a very dim view of marriage.

Meanwhile, as Harris’ bid was taking off, the world was collectively cheering a revitalized Olympics, complete with the triumphant return of both Simone Biles and NBC, which presented the Games in multiplatform splendor and reminded viewers that broadcast networks can adapt to a digital world.

Conservatives’ attempts to use the Games to inflame cultural divisions — whether by denouncing what they saw as the “anti-Christian” nature of parts of the opening ceremony or maliciously and erroneously insisting that Algerian women’s boxing gold medalist Imane Khelif was a man — backfired spectacularly. The criticized tableau evoked an assemblage of Greek gods, not “The Last Supper,” and Khelif is, in fact, a woman. And the ginned-up “outrage” over both really was just plain weird.

Instead, most observers did much the same with the Olympics that they have with Harris and Walz, embracing the relief of good vibes after years of bad ones. Even the most dedicated doomscroller could not help but have their spirits lifted by the beauty of Paris, or by watching top athletes, including many Americans, accomplish breathtaking feats. How many times did we need to see Biles’ vault, Steph Curry’s impossible “golden dagger” or Katie Ledecky swimming while balancing a glass of chocolate milk on her head? Many, many times, as it turns out. Because isn’t it nice to have some fun again?

Neither a revitalized Democratic Party nor a terrific Summer Olympics can cure the world, or this country, of all its ills. The dog days of summer this year have seen heat records broken and wildfires raging as our climate edges toward an irrevocable tipping point. The reprehensible bombing of Gaza continues and Iran is contemplating retaliation. COVID rates and grocery store prices remain unacceptably high. A thwarted terrorist plot forced the cancellation of Taylor Swift’s Eras tour in Austria, and without a doubt, the presidential race will get uglier.

A vibe shift can do only so much and last so long. Still, it’s nice to be reminded that moods can lift, prospects can change, people can re-engage with each other and feel recharged rather than resentful.

Like when you get a new puppy. Suddenly, everything feels just a little bit better.